Osaurian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or characteristic of ancient reptiles resembling lizards or dinosaurs; belonging to or describing a prehistoric group of reptiles including dinosaurs; connected with fossil reptiles of the Mesozoic era
2. Pertaining to extinct reptilian creatures similar to dinosaurs; descriptive of prehistoric beasts of the dinosaur clade; associated with ancient fossil reptiles from geological history
3. Concerning early reptilian species akin to dinosaurs; referring to dinosaur-like prehistoric fauna; linked with Mesozoic-era reptilian fossils and paleontology

Etymology: The ending "-saurian" comes from the Greek "sauros," meaning "lizard." English adopted it in the 19th century as an adjective meaning "lizard-like," and it was long applied to reptiles in general. "Osaurian" on its own is not a standard English word. The form appears as the tail of longer scientific names, such as "ornithosaurian" (from Greek "ornis," bird), a term once used for pterosaurs, the flying reptiles. The "-o-" in the middle is a linking vowel, common in Greek-derived compounds, that joins the first element to the "saur" part. So any word ending in "-osaurian" is built from a Greek first element plus "sauros." The most famous word built on "sauros" is "dinosaur," coined in 1842 by the anatomist Richard Owen. He combined Greek "deinos," meaning "terrible" or "fearfully great," with "sauros," producing "terrible lizard." Owen's coinage was a deliberate invention, not an inherited word, and the "lizard" element was chosen before anyone understood that these animals were not closely related to modern lizards.